


through all that sunlight.

by sondersoflight



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: M/M, my brain loves five time and one time fics and im sorry, these people need to stop spying from the door, you wanna fuck each other so bad it makes you look stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:07:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26701930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sondersoflight/pseuds/sondersoflight
Summary: “Um – where were you? There was a class.”“I was busy.” Sensei Lawrence answered – but he was not looking at Miguel he was staring at Mr. LaRusso with a smirk that could only mean –Oh! Oh.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 27
Kudos: 514





	through all that sunlight.

**Author's Note:**

> so, apparently i need to get this out of my system. i guess this is like five times someone else hears johnny call daniel a jokey pet name and one time they hear him call him actually something sweet? obviously that did not fit in the title. all mistakes are mine. the title is from a bit of giovannis room by James Baldwin.

**i.**

Her little brother might think so, but Sam is not stupid.

She is not oblivious either. She had been sad when her parents had sat down with her and Anthony and told them that they were getting a divorce. Her sadness had felt just like when she’d been eight and she had to get rid of the pink bunny her grandma had gifted her at three. It was torn and impossible to clean, it had lost both of it’s eyes and Sam had loved it still, but she knew it was time. She had also known, before her parents had ever said anything, that they were no longer happy with each other.

It was strange, no longer living with her Dad, not finding him in the kitchen drinking coffee every morning and not having him at the table every night. But slowly she had grown used to this new normal. Robby had left as well – because of course he’d rather go live with Daniel.

The new house her dad had moved in was cozy, it had a big garden and a comfortable couch. What Sam had not expected the first time she had walked through the door, was the unannounced house guest.

“LaRusso, where do you keep your – “ Sensei Lawrence voice had said behind her father’s back and when Daniel had turn to look at him, Sam could see he was not wearing a t-shirt.

“Johnny, I told you to not to touch that – “

“I cannot understand why you refuse to keep –“

“Why are you half naked?” Anthony had said, still standing besides her.

Her dad had immediately turned a very funny shade of red and Sensei Lawrence had smirked, the corner of his mouth pulling up in that way that reminded her a little too much of Robby. A flimsy explanation about dropping sauce on his t-shirt and dropping by to visit Robby, even if he was nowhere to be seen, had been given. And that had been that.

Sam had filed that incident away to review it at a later time, but she had forgotten all about it. Months had gone by and while every time she was at her dad’s place Sensei Lawrence seemed to materialize, she did not give too much thought to it.

Until tonight.

Dinner had been weirdly…tense. Not in a bad way, she did not think Robby or Anthony had noticed at all. But Sensei Lawrence kept looking at her dad with a weird glint in his eye and in return Daniel would not meet his eye, he had blushed and looked at his plate all night like the potato salad had paid him a compliment.

When they had moved to the living room to watch the stupid movie Anthony picked, her dad had said something about getting a drink and not even a second after he had gone down the hallway towards the kitchen, Sensei Lawrence had followed without saying anything.

Sam looked over at Robby and Anthony, both spread out on the floor, eyes fixated on whatever was exploding on the film.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” she said just in case.

“Gross,” was all the response she received from Anthony.

_Boys._

She left her shoes behind just in case and walked down the dark hallway, trying not to run into anything that would ruin her little spy mission. She felt kind of upset that Robby would not notice their dads were fighting when he was living with Daniel – but Sam was not going to let it go by.

Light was spilling out from the open kitchen door into the hallway and as she got closer she could hear her dad and Sensei Lawrence talking – but it did not sound angry. When she got to the door frame she made sure to stay leaning on the side where the light would not give her away.

“Johnny – Johnny stop _it_!” Her dad said but he sounded breathless and laughing. “You should go back – the kids are going to notice we’ve both gone for so long-“

“C’mon LaRusso don’t give me that.” Sensei Lawrence said and his voice had sounded all breathy and rough too. Had they been fighting? But why were-

“Johnny…” her dad sighed and Sam made a small effort to lean forward to try to peak at what was actually happening.

“You know I can’t help myself when you put those sweatpants on, _baby_.”

And then they went quiet.

Sam moved her body one more bit just to be able to see – at the exact time Sensei Lawrence had leaned down and pressed an open mouth kiss against her dad’s lips. She felt her heart drop for a minute – waiting for her father to push him away but instead Daniel locked his arms around Sensei Lawrence’s neck and pulled him closer, pressing them both against the counter.

A second later her dad did pull back and looked at Sensei Lawrence, a smiling threating to split his face and just said, “Just one more minute.”

Sam moved back and pressed her back to the wall, trying to calm her thundering heart. This was the last thing she had expected when she had gotten up from the couch just a few minutes ago – but surprisingly she did not feel upset. She felt bad she had spied and saw something that was not meant for her – but as she quietly made her way back to the living room she realized; she was actually kind of happy.

It was the look in her dad’s eyes when he had pulled away from that kiss.

It had been a long time since she had seen him so happy. He’d look elated and enamored, he had been acting like a teenager. Sensei Lawrence made her dad happy. And Sam was relieved – because all this time she had thought about her dad in this house alone and sad – and he had been missing them but he had also been happy in a way she did not expect.

“Dad! I want pop-corn!” Anthony yelled without taking his eyes off of the TV.

Five minutes later, after Sam had returned to her place on the couch, Daniel came down the hall holding a huge bowl of pop corn with Sensei Lawrence behind him – he was smiling but it was softer than usual.

“Sweetie, are you ok?” Her dad asked as soon as he sat down. “You are looking a bit flushed.”

Sam wanted to laugh but instead she said, “I’m good, dad.”

Robby looked at her weirdly, but Sam didn’t care. She even pretended not to notice when Sensei Lawrence fake yawned to slip his arm behind her dad’s shoulder.

_Boys._

**ii.**

From the moment she woke up – Amanda knew it was going to be an awful day.

She had missed her alarm; Anthony had been late to school and she had dropped her coffee on her white shirt. It had taken forever to find a place to park and when she had finally made it to the dealership she had been greeted by an impending disaster.

It would have been better to just stay in bed.

For the first time since the divorce filing, she had been glad to see Daniel – it wasn’t that Amanda was mad. She was an adult and as a rational personal she had known way before that her marriage was over. But she wasn’t a robot and breaking up a life that had been built together for seventeen years had been hard. But she’d come out on the other side knowing it was for the best.

Daniel was always gracious, and he had always tried to be accommodating. Amanda still missed him sometimes.

On that particular day he had been a savior, helping to handle the disaster and spending all day on the phone with customers to make sure no one was left unattended. Things had quieted down on the afternoon and when Amanda was finally ready to go home she was feeling like tomorrow would be much better.

She picked up her bag – wanting desperately to go home and be with her kids for some time and forget about her awful day. She made a special effort and stopped by Daniel’s office to say goodnight and for a moment she almost wished she could said she’d seen him at home. Daniel had looked exhausted – tie undone and sleeves rolled up. His hair was a mess from running his fingers through it and his huge brown eyes looked tired.

Amanda hovered at the door for a minute before she turned on her heel towards the parking lot. She could not help herself to let him know he should not stay in too late.

But of course – because it was the very worst day when she got to her car she noticed she had forgotten her keys.

She sighed, deeply considered discarding her heels and just going back barefoot. She slowly walked back into the dealership, resigned to whatever else could go wrong in this awful day and did not even bother turning on the light of her office to fish her keys out of one of her drawers.

The hallway was dark except for the light coming from Daniel’s office – Amanda thought she’d step by his office again for a minute, just to make a stupid joke about forgetting her keys and they’d laugh together for a bit – like she’d like to do before whenever she had a bad day.

The door to Daniel’s office was half open – just like she’d left it but when her hand was hovering over the handle to push it further open she noticed someone else was there.

Daniel was standing on the side of his desk, his back to the door. Amanda could tell he was slumping his shoulders and pressing the heel of his hand against his eyes, but there were a set of arms around his waist and – Johnny Lawrence was holding him?

Amanda was well aware of how close her ex-husband had grown to her former childhood rival, even before their divorce had been finalized but not – just through Sam and Anthony. Johnny seemed to be a permanent fixture at Daniel’s house, at his dojo and on his life.

At first Amanda thought it was a natural thing, They shared a common passion for karate even when they had their differences and Johnny’s son was living with Daniel. Amanda had brushed off several particularly venomous comments from her cousins about how Daniel was playing house with someone else so soon after the divorce thinking there was no way –

“It’s just been a difficult day.” Daniel’s quiet voice interrupted her line of thought. “Is Robby home today?”

“Nope,” Johnny answered, and he leaned closer to her – to Daniel, pressing him against the desk. “Hey _gorgeous,_ how about we stop talking about your boring job and we go home so I can do that thing with my tongue that makes your eyes water?”

Amanda was proud of herself for not gasping out loud – but she did step back like she’d been burned. She leaned against the wall, afraid her legs might fail her. What was this? How long had this been going on? Had Daniel been cheating and –

“You are so romantic,” Daniel’s voice took her out of her trance. “I’m honestly swooning over here.”

But there was no heat behind his words of sarcasm and Johnny was laughing.

“I thought I was done romancing you.”

“When did you ev-“

She took a step back, just to be able to see through the door, even when she knew she was not meant to see. Johnny was still holding Daniel, but they had turned a bit and Amanda could see the sweet smile on his face. He looked relaxed and he was genuinely enjoying himself – like this little fake argument with his – boyfriend? Was the best part of his day.

Amanda felt her heart squeezing slightly at the sight – thinking she didn’t remember the last time she had seen Daniel smile like that.

As she turned again, finally to leave and go home, she felt a bittersweet sensation taking her over. They had made each other happy once, her and Daniel, but that was gone now. Daniel was happy with someone else.

She thought she’d finally take up the guy from the book store on that drink.

**iii**.

Miguel was a patient guy.

Or well – he tried to be. He had been patient when convincing his mom to let him go back to the dojo after _the incident._ He had been patient with Sensei Lawrence getting his shit together and he had been patient with Sam’s guilt and Robby’s as well.

He could handle that. Even if his mom did not want to get it – Miguel was mature. What he could not handle was Sensei Lawrence leaving him alone with the eight-year-old class one more time.

He had been fine with it the first few times; it had even felt exciting that he was trusted to teach the little guys. After the first two weeks – Sensei Lawrence always came in looking like he had run for three blocks to get to the dojo, and fine Miguel had felt bad for him.

But now, an hour of class had gone by and Sensei Lawrence had not arrived. And Miguel was tired, he had a huge pile of homework to attend to and he had his own class after this one – and it was just _not cool._

He’d try texting Sensei Lawrence but he knew well enough it was futile trying to reach him that way. He didn’t “believe” in texting. Whatever that meant.

So, Miguel was just fantasizing on how exactly he’d make Sensei Lawrence pay for this, and focusing on teaching these kids how to do a good kick, when he heard a noise coming from the office.

Miguel felt his stomach drop – what if it was someone trying to break in? What if it was Kreese? Miguel was badass and he knew some cool moves but there is no way he could take on that guy. He’d be grounded forever for even trying.

Nevertheless, he had been entrusted with the safety of seven small children and he needed to protect them. So, Miguel squared his shoulders and told them to take a small break and walked towards the back of the dojo.

The door to the Sense’s office was shut – which was weird considering he seemed to be unable to shut any door ever. Miguel took a couple of steps towards the door but when he tried pushing it open he realized – it was locked. Even stranger.

A second later he heard another noise – and he could tell it was coming from the bathroom this time. He took a couple of more steps and pressed his ear against the door – trying to make out the noise that slipped through the wood.

“.. _honey,_ you always taste so good…” Sensei Lawrence’s voice floated and fell into his ears.

Miguel felt himself flush and immediately pulled away from the door. Sensei Lawrence was with a girl in the dojo’s bathroom? He took a couple of steps back and walked onto the mats to find the kids staring at him weirdly.

He quickly showed them the next thing he wanted them to try and let himself think. Sensei Lawrence had seemed strangely happier as of lately. He was calmer and he had not had a drink in weeks. He had even laughed at one of Miguel’s joke last week – that should have tipped him off.

It was stupid that he ditched class to go be with his girlfriend when Miguel was supposed to be the teenager – but he guessed he could be a bit more patient. Sensei Lawrence deserved a bit of happiness.

When the class was finished and all of the kids had gone with their parents, Miguel lied down on the mat and waited for his friends to arrive – all thoughts about the bathroom forgotten. But a couple of minutes later he heard a door being pushed open and some footsteps followed by a quiet “ _Shit”_

Miguel pulled himself up and opened his eyes – and

“Mr. L?” He said – confused. “What are you doing here?”

“I was uhm – “ Mr. LaRusso looked weird, his shirt which were usually pristine was all messed up and buttoned up incorrectly. He was not wearing a tie and his hair was sticking up in a funny way. “I had to – use the bathroom.”

“The – bathroom?” Miguel asked confused. “How long have you been here?”

“What is this Diaz? Did you join the fucking FBI?” Sensei Lawrence said – stepping onto the mats. His gi was not tied.

“Um – where were you? There was a class.”

“I was busy.” Sensei Lawrence answered – but he was not looking at Miguel he was staring at Mr. LaRusso with a smirk that could only mean –

 _Oh!_ Oh.

“Um – “ Miguel looked between the two of them – trying and failing to figure out the silent conversation they appeared to be having. See Miguel was fucking mature – because he was not going to make a comment on whatever – whatever this was.

Because it was obvious Mr. LaRusso could not be more uncomfortable. And Miguel would not do that to another person. Another person he wanted to in the future call his father in law.

But that was _beside_ the point.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” Miguel said – and received no response. “Please remember, students will be coming at any minute and this dojo cannot afford a lawsuit.”

He could hear the faint “ _Johnny_!” and Sensei Lawrence laughing before the bathroom door closed behind him.

**iv.**

Lucille had known – she could no longer postpone the encounter.

She had been supportive, as she always had been, when Daniel told her she was getting a divorce. She had listened to him and ensured her son knew he had a support system. She had watched Sam and Anthony whenever they had needed it and she had asked one of her friends son who owned a truck to help Daniel move his things out of the house.

She had been a good mother, like she always had.

A couple of months after the divorce was finalized – because Lucille was a good mother – she had noticed something was going on with her son.

Daniel was acting strange, forgetful as if he were in a haze. As if he were a teenager again. He dismissed her concerns and assured her time and time again everything was ok – but Lucille knew better.

Sam said everything was fine – but she would not meet her eyes when she said it. Lucille was not so insensitive to try and talk to Amanda about it, and she was not sure Anthony was as perceptive, he was only just a child.

Then – she had called Daniel’s house one afternoon and the phone had been picked up by a strange man. Daniel had come to the phone a couple of minutes later and said _it was just Robby’s dad,_ like an off-hand comment that could be swept under the rug.

Lucille was not resentful – but she did remember how the brace around Daniel’s knee had looked all that summer.

When she agreed to go to dinner to finally see where Daniel had moved to – she knew deep down she was going to see that boy again.

Dinner had started off fine, Daniel looked surprisingly happy and fine. He made jokes the entire time and overcooked like he tended to do when he was happy. Lucille almost forgot all about what concerned her before coming here.

But when they were about to start on desert – she heard the noise of the door and two sets of footsteps and loud voices accompanied with laughter.

Daniel tensed imperceptibly for a second – Lucille might not have caught it had she not been so trained on watching her only son.

“Who is that?” She asked – even when she knew the answer.

“Just Robby and Joh-his dad.” Daniel said. “Robby moved here with me and his dad comes to visit sometimes. He probably just came to drop him off.”

“I see.” Lucille said. Daniel’s eyes were fixed on his chocolate mousse.

“I’m going to get some more water.” Daniel suddenly said – anxious to be anywhere but having that conversation at that particular time.

Lucille watched him race out of the chair and walk towards the kitchen – a second later, the boy, Robby came walking down the hall – without lifting his eyes from his phone and passed straight towards the hallway towards his room.

She strained her ear but she did not hear the door close again, and she did not hear voices coming from the kitchen. Lucille knew she was old enough to know better and not pry – but Daniel was still her baby.

When she got to the kitchen door frame she guessed she was just catching the end of the conversation because she just heard Daniel’s soft voice –

“I’ll be done in like an hour so – you can just wait for me in bed.” Daniel said quietly.

“Talk dirtier to me, _sweetheart_. You know I love it.” Johnny said – and Lucille could see how Daniel’s eyes crinkled with laughter while he shoved his elbow into Johnny’s side.

“My mother is in the next room.” Daniel whispered.

“I’ll have to be quick then.” Johnny said, waggling his eyebrows and pulled Daniel into a quick kiss.

Daniel laughed but he melted into the kiss – his entire body leaning into Johnny as if he felt so completely safe, there was no question on if to let his guard down or not. A second later he pulled away and he murmured he was going to the bathroom,

Lucille stood there, for a couple of seconds, watching the man who seemed to hold his son’s heart on his hand, while he unaware drank a glass of water, smiling to himself.

When he turned to leave the used glass in the sink – Lucille could not help herself.

She stepped into the kitchen.

“Mr. Lawrence.” She said – almost delighted on how Johnny dropped the glass into the sink.

“Hi – um,” Johnny said as he slowly turned. “Hello.”

“I hope you know Mr. Lawrence,” Lucille said in the most threatening tone she could manage in her old age. “what you are doing with my son.”

The look on Johnny’s face told her she could still manage it quite well.

“Um – I,” Johnny said. “We are just –“

“Don’t bother lying to me,” Lucille said, and she allowed herself to smile a bit. “I know my son and I know what he looks like when he is in love.”

“In…love?” Johnny repeated as if he were trying to make sense of the words.

“I also know what his knee looked like the last time you were through with him.” Lucille said – serious this time.

The look on Johnny’s face went from confused to guilty to something else in just a couple of seconds. Lucille thought he looked just as lost as he had been when she had first saw him as a teenager. But his face settled in determination and he took a step forward.

“I will never hurt Daniel like that again.” Johnny said – his voice firm. “Or anyway if I can help it.”

Lucille smiled. These boys were hopeless.

“That is all I wanted to know.”

**v.**

Robby thought this whole situation was stupid.

Sam had told him several times, that his dad probably was just trying to be discrete, that he had gone through a lot this year and that his father probably did not want to stress him out anymore. Robby understood almost killing someone and ending up in Juvie might be a traumatic experience – but he did not understand how this could stress him out.

He was not an idiot. He lived in this house – he knew that there were only two bedrooms and he knew there was no way in hell his dad could fit into that couch. Also – why would his dad need to stay over so much? It was ridiculous. His dad and Mr. LaRusso were idiots. With all due respect.

But Robby had also learned that he should not pressure people – into doing or telling him things that they were not ready for. So, he was willing to respect their timing even if their attempts to hide what was going on were absolutely idiotic.

“Robby!” He heard his dad’s voice coming from the living room. “The movie is about to start.”

Robby sighed deeply and willed himself to spend yet another night of this torture.

It wasn’t even that he didn’t enjoy spending time with them – movie night was actually a lot of fun. It was just that he was tired of trying to act like he didn’t see his dad running his hands through Mr. L’s hair or placing his arm around his shoulders. Honestly, they acted like teenagers sometimes.

“I’ll be there in a minute, dad!” Robby yelled back as he pulled himself up from the bed.

He was a _good_ person.

When he stepped into the living room, his dad and Mr. L were sat on the couch, acting like they were leaving space between them – like they were not just making out like two teenagers at the back of the cinema.

“Is this movie any good?” His dad asked – sounding out of breath.

“Um – Mr. L picked it out.” Robby said and he grabbed the popcorn bowl from the side table.

“You better shut up about it, Johnny.” Mr. L said, but there was no heat behind his words.

“We all know of your stellar taste in the arts, _babe._ ”

Mr. L’s hand froze midway to the remote. Robby could see out of the corner of his eye the tip of his ears going red.

“Very funny, Johnny.”

And the moment passed.

Robby settled into the couch as the movie started, trying to focus on the titles but he could feel how tense Mr. L was besides him – how his dad was leaning on the side trying to keep distance. As if they’ve both messed up something with him.

Fuck being a good patient person.

“You know,” Robby started without taking his eyes off the screen. “You guys can tell me anything. Like if anything was going on.”

Mr. L snapped his head so fast – Robby was surprised it didn’t crack.

“What are you talking about?” His dad spoke before any of them could open his mouth.

Robby felt the uncomfortable pressure of both of their stares.

“I just –“ Robby “Look, I know something is going on. And it doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that you would think it would bother me.”

“Robby,” Mr. LaRusso said slowly. “What do you think is going on?”

“I think you are dating my dad, Mr. LaRusso.” Robby said.

His dad – always the most helpful person – started laughing.

“I-“ Mr. LaRusso started. “Well – I mean – just,”

“Give it up, LaRusso.” His dad finally said, leaning forward to wrap his arm around Daniel’s shoulders and pulled him back, against his chest. “We’ve been found out by Sherlock Holmes here.”

Robby could not help but to laugh.

Mr. LaRusso looked like he wanted to say something else – but as soon as he leaned against his dad he relaxed – letting his head fall.

“Thank you, Robby.” He finally muttered.

“Does this mean I can finally stop getting up at six a.m. to pretend that I was sleeping on the couch?”

“ _Johnny_!”

**vi.**

Daniel was buzzed.

He felt the slow vibration from the music of the bar they were in, the low lights and pleasant warmth. It had been a while since he felt so content.

It had been a bit nerve wrecking when Johnny had asked him to come along for one of his get togethers with his dumb high school buddies, because well. Daniel was the guy they used to gang up on – and now Johnny was introducing Daniel as his partner and looking at him in such a sweet way – it made Daniel nervous.

Surprisingly, Bobby and Jimmy had both been great. They had actually grown up to be pretty ok dudes, and they had been happy for Johnny, even making jokes about how his fixation with Daniel through out high school turned out to be a crush.

So, maybe Daniel had overdone it with the liquid courage. But you could never be too sure.

He was currently trapped in the booth, Johnny had made sure to cage him between his body and the wall, knowing too well Daniel would probably try to run at some point. The conversation was still flowing about something trivial and funny – if the way the three of them were laughing was anything to go by.

“I want another drink.” Daniel muttered, mostly to himself.

Johnny turned to look at him – mirth still in his eyes. He smelled so nice, Daniel had always liked his shampoo mixed with his aftershave.

“ _Danny,_ I think you’ve had enough.”

Johnny looked so young when he said it, and Daniel felt his hand almost without a thought reaching up to push his blonde hair off his forehead. And for a moment both of them forgot where they were, stopped hearing the music and the noise around them.

“You guys are adorable.” Bobby said a second later, breaking the spell.

Johnny smiled and stared at Daniel for one more second – before turning to face his friends.

“Go ahead,” Johnny said – he looked so happy. Like he could not even try to hide his smile. “I know you are dying to make some dumb joke.”

“I’m not!” Jimmy said, lifting up his hands as if he’d been caught.

“We are just happy you are happy.” Bobby said in a playful tone. “You and _Danny,”_

Daniel couldn’t help but to laugh.


End file.
